Neo-Pagans – the Military Wing of Maidan in Moscow

Translated by Ollie Richardson & Angelina Siard

17:25:49 20/06/2017

On June 15th, at the Moscow Presidential Cadet School named after M.A.Sholokhov, under the chairmanship of the Executive Secretary of the Synodal department of cooperation with the Cossacks of the Moscow Patriarchy priest Timofey Chaykin and the army priest of the Central Cossack army priest Mark Kravchenko, a conference took place on problem of penetration of Neopaganism in the Cossack environment, and also in law enforcement bodies and sports organizations of such phenomenon. At the event an active part was taken by the coordinator of the public Orthodox Movement Sopok Sorokov, the champion of Russia in boxing and the world class master of sports Vladimir Nosov. This public organization has long been engaged in the prevention of Neopaganism in the sports and youth environment.

The event took place against the background of the criminal case initiated after the protest actions in Moscow on March 26th, when one of the defendants in the case became one of the persons involved in the attack on police officers, the minesweeper Stanislav Zimovets, who in photos on social networks from the courtroom is depicted with the Neopagan symbol “Axe of Perun”, which is carried by people who are Neopaganists. In addition, “Axe of Perun” is a cult band for Ukrainian nazis. As you can see, Stanislav Zimovets not incidentally wears a t-shirt of this extremist group even in the courtroom.

The participation of so-called Neopaganists connected with radical nazis in Ukraine in illegal actions during protests became increasingly systematic. So, in Torfyanka Park in 2016 law enforcement officers detained the Neopaganists who organized an attack on the construction site of the Orthodox church protected by the Movement Sopok Sorokov.

“We’ve been watching the ongoing penetration into the men’s and youth environment of such a destructive phenomenon as Neopaganism for a long time. We understand that this ideological weapon has long been used by western intelligence agencies for the organization of destructive processes in those nations where they plan to organize destabilising processes following the example of the same Ukrainian Maidan. During the hot phase of Maidan we were in Kiev, protecting the orthodox shrine The Gift of the Magi in the Kiev Pechersk Lavra.

And we saw how those same “ancient Ukrainians who dug out the Black Sea”, which we only yesterday were laughing at because of the ridiculous-looking invented legend, marched near us with these Kolovrat and “Axe of Perun”, and they formed the military wing at the Maidan barricades. Then we met them face to face in Torfyanka Park and in other places where they tried and continue to try to prevent the construction of Orthodox churches, and again, the same symbols, the same ideology of destruction. Now we’ve seen them already in the ranks of those who arranged attacks on police officers on March 26th. We try to talk a lot to youth, to football fans, and in the sports environment, and we have many guys connected with law enforcement bodies where Neopaganism also, unfortunately, penetrated and gave metastasises. And we are sure that if society won’t erect a barrier to this harmful phenomenon soon, Neopaganists can create that “military wing of Maidan”, like in Ukraine. The first sprouts of this phenomenon are obvious,” said the coordinator of the Movement Sopok Sorokov Vladimir Nosov.